ISIS fundraising in US via bitcoin – report

An Israeli cyber intelligence analyst claims that ISIS is using the dark web and bitcoin for recruitment and fundraising. Unregulated system “gaps” could indeed be exploited by terrorists seeking refuge in the anonymous network, experts say.

Haaretz newspaper quoted an Israeli analyst who said he traced an
ISIS funding website and “has uncovered concrete evidence
that a terror cell, purporting to be related to the Islamic State
– is soliciting for bitcoins as part of its fundraising
efforts.”

The fundraiser reportedly called for the support of a “new
Islamic front – both in the United States, and around the
world.” It allegedly called for donations to be made through
various means, all of which – “besides economic support
through bitcoin” – should have been done with much caution
“due to the security apparatus’ recent crackdown on any and
all Islamic change fronts here in the United States.”

The analyst believes the finding could be pointing to a larger,
more worrying trend of terrorists taking refuge in the anonymous
network, as social media websites are increasing their efforts to
shut down terror-related accounts.

Jimmy Gurule, the former under secretary of the Treasury
Department under George W. Bush and an international criminal law
expert on terrorism and terrorist financing, told RT that the
allegation is possible.

“Bitcoin is currently not regulated, and so I think that it
does present a risk to moving money for criminal purposes,”
said Gurule. “And I think potentially the terrorists could
have found a chink in the armor, or could have found a gap in our
regulatory system that they may be exploiting.”

Gurule, however, was skeptical of the claim because any US
citizen or anyone residing in the US who provides financial
assistance to ISIS is subject to criminal prosecution for
violating the material support statute and financing terrorism.

“If you’re going to be moving money, the terrorists are going
to be looking for the point of least resistance, where it’s
easier and there are less criminal and legal repercussions for
moving money, and that’s certainly not in the United
States,” he said.

He also raised the possibility that the source or sources used in
the Haaretz report – as well as in another report earlier this
week in Pakistani newspaper the Express Tribune which claimed
that ISIS had received funding through the US – may be giving
false information in order to create a phony lead.

Earlier this week, a suspected Pakistani commander of the Islamic
State, Yousaf al Salafi, confessed to law enforcement agencies in
Pakistan that ISIS is “getting funding – routed through
America – to run the organization in Pakistan and recruit young
people to fight in Syria.”

But most importantly, says Gurule, is that the Islamic State,
unlike Al-Qaeda, is a self-funding organization and its principal
source of funding comes from the sale of oil on the black market.
ISIS also receives some money from ransom payments and extortion
payments within the territory it controls.

“[ISIS] doesn’t rely on external sources of funding from
sympathetic donors,” he said.

Gurule admitted, though, that “there is some concern regarding
Qatar” as a source of funding for ISIS. He said it is an issue
that the US government raises with the Qataris in official
meetings.

At the same time there is no guarantee, he acknowledged, that
money and weapons given to the “moderate” Syrian opposition by
the US do not end up in the hands of ISIS, or other terrorist or
Muslim extremist groups in the country.